AUSTRALIA
The Age
May 24, 2015
Konrad Marshall
Normally swung shut and baldly unadorned, the wrought iron gates of the early Gothic church were flung wide open on Sunday morning, and tied with colourful ribbons.
They will remain that way at St Patrick’s Cathedral throughout the course of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in Ballarat, as an expression of the parish desire to be open to this ongoing pain.
Father Justin Driscoll was dressed in resplendent red for Mass, and he stood above the congregation of 100 or more, both welcoming and commanding, his hands raised as the searching homily began.
“I don’t know what to say – and don’t know what not to say,” he said, pausing. “Part of me wants to be silent for long enough to allow the real impact of this past week to simply stay with us.”
It has been a rough few days to be Catholic in this part of the world, and will be rougher still in the coming two weeks as the hearings continue. And yet the parishioners of this place are open to what comes of the investigation.
“We’ve heard so much about our church culture, that has enabled these crimes to continue – a culture of power and secrecy, silencing and clericalism, of protecting the institution,” Father Driscoll continued. “For us it continues to be hard to hear, and it continues to be hard to bear, but that is no reason to seek to silence those voices who are seeking to bring the truth. Those who are speaking need our encouragement, not our condemnation.”
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